Outside the Clans
by lizfav
Summary: Raintail is the product of a romance gone sour. When her father takes her from her home in RiverClan, she must find a way to get back home to her Clan as her friend Minnowpool tries to find a way to get her back. But by doing this, Raintail and Minnowpool are thrown into something bigger than any of them.
1. Chapter 1

"Come, Rainkit," Redheart said, nudging the little black kit along. "There's someone who would like to meet you." Rainkit followed her mother, keeping an eye on her reddish pelt so as to not get lost in the night.

"Who?" Rainkit asked. "Why couldn't Minnowkit come with us?" Redheart looked over her shoulder at her kit, a deep sadness buried in her clear blue eyes.

"This tom who wants to meet you doesn't want to meet Minnowkit," she said. Rainkit looked at her curiously.

"Why not?" she asked.

"Minnowkit has nothing to do with the tom." Something clicked in Rainkit's mind.

"Are we going to meet my father?" she ventured. Redheart stopped in her tracks. Rainkit looked over at her, but she was already on the move again, not saying a word. They went on in silence. Finally they arrived at Fourtrees. Rainkit looked up in awe at the giant trees. In a few moons, she would be old enough to come to Gatherings with her mentor. To her, two moons seemed like an eternity.

"Redheart," they heard the gruff meow of a tom and ThunderClan scent drifted towards them.

"And me!" Rainkit reminded excitedly.

"You wanted to meet her," Redheart said. "Come out." There was a rustle in the bushes, and a gray tom stepped into the clearing. He had stunning green eyes, just like Rainkit.

"My name is Sharpstone. I am your father," the tom said. Rainkit's eyes lit up and she forgot about his weird scent.

"Really? My father?" she exclaimed. Sharpstone nodded fondly at her as Redheart's eyes narrowed.

"The Clan will be missing us. We need to go," she said. Sharpstone looked at her sharply.

"What does RiverClan have that is so important?" he asked with a bit of edge to his tone.

"I will be sent on the dawn patrol and need to be well-rested," Redheart answered. Rainkit picked up on their hostility and fell silent to let the two work things out.

"Then go," he said and abruptly turned and went back to ThunderClan.

"Why does my father smell weird?" Rainkit asked.

"Sharpstone is from ThunderClan," Redheart explained.

"But doesn't that go against the warrior code?" the kit pointed out, proud to know so much about the way the Clans work.

"I only brought you out here to meet him. Not to tell you about things you will learn in two moons," Redheart replied, making it clear she didn't want Rainkit to say anything more.

"Rainkit! Rainkit!" Minnowkit mewed when they got back to the Clan. "Where have you been? Your nest was empty and I looked everywhere in the nursery and the queens were all telling me to calm down and that Redheart took you but I couldn't because you didn't say goodbye or anything! You just left! I was so worried! I thought a fox or a badger took you off and ate you! Never leave without saying anything ever again! Okay?"

"Aren't you supposed to be in the nursery?" Redheart said tersely.

"She's in a bad mood," Rainkit whispered to her friend. "But don't worry, I'm fine."

"Get to sleep, both of you," Redheart ordered, and they went back to their nests to sleep. Rainkit listened to Minnowkit's steady snores as she tried to drift off to sleep, but just couldn't. She had just met her _father_ , who just so happened to be a _ThunderClan_ cat, and he and her mother didn't even get along! How was she supposed to sleep after all that?


	2. Chapter 2

"Rainkit, from this moment on, you will be known as Rainpaw," Swiftstar said. "Blueripple, you have proven yourself to be a clever and strong warrior and are ready to take on an apprentice. You will be mentor to Rainpaw." Blueripple approached Rainpaw and they touched muzzles. "Minnowkit, from this moment on, you will be known Minnowpaw," Swiftstar continued, turning to face the cream-colored kit. "Reedtail, you have proven yourself to have a brave and fierce warrior and ready to take on an apprentice. From this moment on, you will be mentor to Minnowpaw." Rainpaw could barely contain her excitement as her friend and his mentor touched muzzles and the Clan went back to their dens.

"Minnowpaw! We're apprentices!" she exclaimed.

"Reedtail, are we going to go see the territory now? Please?" Minnowpaw begged his new mentor.

"We will tomorrow. It's getting late, you two should get some sleep," Reedtail said.

"Don't worry," Blueripple promised. "We're going to see the territory first thing in the morning." The two new apprentices bounded off to the apprentice den. They would try to sleep, but they wouldn't get one wink of rest that night.

"Minnowpaw! Rainpaw! Wake up!" Blueripple called. Minnowpaw and Rainpaw slowly opened their eyes and stretched. They had to pretend to sleep all night because the other apprentices were getting annoyed that they kept talking to each other.

"You didn't forget about the territory, did you?" Reedtail teased.

"No!" Minnowpaw said. "We'd never forget about something so important!"

"Let's go!" Rainpaw said, running off.

"Slow down, Rainpaw! You won't know what the territory's like if it's just a blur to you!" Reedtail said with a chuckle. Rainpaw skidded to a halt and looked back at them impatiently. They walked around the edges of the territory, making sure both apprentices knew what the borders smelled like and how to mark them. Minnowpaw observed everything carefully and hung on to every word their mentors said, whereas Rainpaw kept bounding ahead and interrupting the older cats with observations like, "ThunderClan smells weird," and "Why do ThunderClan cats love the trees so much?" and "I'm going to be the best swimmer the Clan has _ever_ seen!".

"This is Sunningrocks," Reedtail said, flicking his tail towards some large stones bathed in sunlight.

"Those ThunderClan fox-hearts try to take Sunningrocks from us a lot, right?" Rainpaw said, bristling and taking her best impression of a battle stance. "I'll shred them all we meet any!" Blueripple rested his tail on her shoulder.

"There shouldn't be any ThunderClan cats coming any time soon," he assured. "Let's get back to camp. It's almost sunhigh and I'm sure you both are hungry."

"The hungriest!" Rainpaw cried, suddenly realizing she was hungry. The black apprentice raced back and she didn't slow down when she reached the river separating Sunningrocks from the rest of the Clan. She ran along the stepping-stones, and halfway across, her paw slipped and she fell into the water.

"RAINPAW!" Blueripple yelled as she was carried downstream into deeper waters.

"Blueripple!" Rainpaw cried out, trying to stay above the surface. Blueripple ran along the bank to keep up with her. She was pulled under, and Blueripple dove in after her. Rainpaw frantically scrambled with her legs, trying to get back to air, when she felt firm jaws clasp her scruff and pull her out. She lay down on land and watched as Blueripple shook out his fur and smoothed it back down. Rainpaw mimicked him and shook herself.

"You look like a puffball," Minnowpaw laughed.

"Ha ha," Rainpaw said, smoothing down her own fur with a little help from Blueripple. Reedtail looked out onto the water.

"Blueripple," he said. "Something's off."

"Yeah, I know," Blueripple replied. "The water was deeper than normal."

"The river's rising?" Minnowpaw asked. Blueripple nodded.

"And fast. This can't be good."


End file.
